- What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
- What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
- What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
- Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2025?
1.
What is your personal zoo visit highlight?
Not animal related, but I remember going to three facilities (1 bird park, 1 aquarium, and 1 mini zoo) in a single day because they have interesting collections and being relatively close in term of distances between each of them, especially the bird park and the aquarium, and I don't want to use another day for a zoo trip because I have other things to do. I went there by commuter train to the first stop in
Bintaro, which have the bird park and aquarium. Spend more than a hour in each facility and already kind of tired, not to the point that I really need to have a rest. Then, I went another trip by commuter train to another stop in
Cisauk that have the mini zoo. At that time, I have no idea where this place is located, and I obviously didn't expect them being inside a
kampong (village) and so, it's quite a walk for me. By the time I finished photographing the animals that I interested in and after all my DSLR camera batteries died out, it's already nearly 18.00 PM. After another long walk, at this point I'm already very exhausted but I still have to catch a commuter train for a way back home. Cisauk, geographicly-wise, is already quite deep within the Banten province, I obviously don't want to get lost in this place. So catching the commuter train is an adrenaline race for me. Using the commuter that are linked to the transportation systems in Jakarta, the train was absolutely packed that I didn't have a place to sit. For I think a hour or two, I have to stand inside and was already very tired that I though I almost passed out a couple of times. After arriving to my final destination back home, I remember mindlessly trying to find the nearest convenience store to get some drinks because I was so convinced that I'm about to passed out (My visions was blurry and I nearly stumbled a lot, so that scared me too). Luckly, I survived and didn't passed out, as well as going home with more than a dozen new (sub)species and domestic breeds pictures.
The lessons from this experience are,
never pushed yourself way too hard and always try to have a time to rest. And also never forget to drink water every time you can, never forget that.
2.
What is your favourite piece of zoo news of the year?
Coming from Indonesia, a lot of news about Indonesian zoos and aquariums tend to be dissapointing (For me, personally). This year, I don't think there's anything that I can consider to be my favorite. But, if I have to pick, the opening of the
Marine Park at Bali Safari is my favorite. From what I can see, the place generally looks very good in term on exhibits and general looks. There's some brand new stuffs for Indonesia like an outdoor ray pool as well as species like
grey reef shark and some cuttlefish. I think what I didn't like is of course the dolphin show and the weird addition of rabbits of all things.
My second pick would be that a certain mini zoo (Unfortunately the same one that I visited in the last answer) was being under investigation for allegedly keeping several exotic and protected species with no actual permissions. The unfortunate part for me is that I was not aware at first that they kept these animals with not permit. I mean, the very random addition of an
cassowary (In which I genuinely never expect to see there) does raised an eyebrow for me, but it was unfortunate that I paid the ticket for this place that most certaintly the majority went to the manager's bank account.
3.
What was your most disappointing zoo news of the year?
Jakarta Aquarium & Safari is very adamant on maintaning an pinniped, despite being located in a environment that does not fully support them. The seal exhibit that they have is, visually-speaking, very sad and bare, it also looks like they have barely any access to outdoor area (Being located inside a shopping mall afterall). This is the picture of the exhibit by
@snowleopard (
Harbour Seal Exhibit - ZooChat).
It first housed an female
harbor seal, which might no be the best exhibit, but atleast a bit bigger for her to swam around. After the seal was sent elsewhere for unspecified reason (Likely health issues), they decided to get an
South American fur seal of all things, which are a lot of time larger than an harbor seal. I don't think they ever put a scenario of having that species when first designing the exhibit, it seems more like a later decision after finding out the harbor seal can't stay there forever.
I absolutely get it with the perspective that they try to maintain a seal largely for marketing purposes and as visitor-magnets, because, who doesn't like a silly little seal. It brings a lot of money and engagement to the aquarium. But, do I or anyone have to agree with that, of course not, hell I'm against it. Though you have to admit that realisticly, you can't do anything about it aside from hoping for the best.
4.
Is there anything zoo-based in your plans for 2025?
I have a lot of plans for this year for zoo visits. Having my own vehicle and knowing how to drive them means I should be able to go anywhere that I like near me without worrying about waiting for taxi or commuter train and their budget (Despite now worrying about gas and such). I'll be planning to visit zoos in and around Jakarta for new (sub)species and domestic breeds. Some big animals that I'm the most looking forward to see and photograph are;
- Sri Lankan sloth bear in Ragunan Zoo
- Sumatran dhole, Gursky's spectral tarsier, Bornean clouded leopard, Arabian oryx, and golden-necked cassowary in Faunaland
- Greater coucal, Javan honey buzzard, and white-faced cuckoo dove in Jakarta BirdLand
- Pretty much 90% of the collection of Jagat Satwa Nusantara.
I'll be in Yogyakarta for most of the year to attend college, but I'll try to visit a zoo or two. Notably, I'll be hoping to see Gembira Loka Zoo's
Sumatran clouded leopard back on-display, if he's still alive. I have plans to visit zoos in Bandung and Central/East Java, but it's not concrete yet and I still thinking about them.
